British Superbikes, Brands Hatch: Vickers gives his rivals triple trouble

The sixth round of the British Superbike championship belonged to the new King of Brands Hatch after Ryan Vickers co𝐆mpleted a hat-trick of dominant victories.

Ryan Vickers, BSB, 2024, Brands Hatch, race 3, 21st July
Ryan Vickers, BSB, 2024, Brands Hatch, race 3, 21st July
© Ian Hopgood Photography

Ryan Vickers truly made Brands Hatch his own becoming just the third rider in history to 🐼complete a treble at the Kent track, following in the footsteps of Josh Brookes (2019) and Tarran Mackenzie (2021).

His achievement was made all the more special by the nature of thꩵe wins, hot overcast, long distance or shoꦡrt, the #77 OMG Grilla Yamaha was a distant object to all behind it.

It is a first treble fo෴r Vickers, but not his first time dominating a round - taking maximum points from the season opening two races in Navarra before a series of rounds where he could not show his potential.

The 🦩unstoppable rider from Norwich kept his cool heading into race three, starting form pole for a third time and well aware of what he coulܫd achieve:

“It’s a fantastic way to finish the weekend, you know - there’s a few nerves goin♑g into the last race, when it’s on the line for the triple.

We’re riding so well and, you know, it’s really capable. So starting that last race, just fully focussed, you know, I just had to get a good start and I did again. I’ve had three holeshots - well four including the restar✨t one - and over-tried a little bit in the first part of that second race.

I didn’t want to 🉐do that again, I genuinely don’t think I missed an apex the whole race, not to lose any time anyway, so extremely happy with that - I kept my head and I just rode to the limit - it’s the same as Navarra.

That opening roun𝓰d in Spain being brought to the forefront of his mind paid dividends over the final races at the Kent circuit:

“It brought back really good memor🦂ies of that, because, practice, qualifying in Navarra was the same - we were strong and I had braking references for everywhere and I was hitting every braking reference that I had for my qualifying lap and I just did that all race”

Once again Vickers was able to☂ build the same kind of lead he enjoyed in race one, allowing him to celebrate out of the final corner and over the finish line:

“Towards the end of the raﷺce I backed off and just managed the gap. It was really good. The team have worked really hard, they give me great information on the pitboard as wel൲l, so I can understand what the guys are doing behind, know what lap times they’re doing”.

Echoing his feelings at the close of Saturday, Vickers once again credited his team and how they’ve list🌊e✤ned to him and what he needs from the Yamaha for his turnaround this weekend:

“The OMG Grilla Racing Team have given me a fantastic bike this weekend, you know, and we’ve struꦆggled with the bike the last few rounds - they’ve believed in me and what I need and the sort of diffe🧔rent direction.

To sort of take that next step we needed to change a few things and we’ve doﷺne that this weekend and I actually feel like I’ve got a race bike now”.

Having the𝓡 pack bu🦩nch up behind behind the safety car in the sprint gave a good opportunity to see how the changes worked in a competitive environment:

“We’ve been consistently fast in practice and qualifying, but coming into the races we’ve struggled a little bit to pass and it was actually nice to have that race in race two, with Iddon and Tommy and🍌 be able to pass back comfortably, which on the Yamaha has been the weakest point, but I really feel like we’ve made a step with that.”

Vickers added that he thought the progress👍 made would play into his fortunes as the season 🦩moves forward:

“it’s not just been a good wee🌱kend that we’ve managed to pull out of the bag, we’ve figured something out with the bike and a different way of riding, so I think that is going to put us in good step for the rest of the season”.

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